Full Council Meeting Minutes 14th Monday January 2019

Parish Councillors in attendance: Chairman Steve Williamson (SW), Ann Arnold (AA), Elizabeth Brown (EB), Fiona Dix (FD), Val Farren (VF), Fred Fosberry (FF), Rita Harrison-Roach (RHR), Max Harwood (MH), Sue May (SM), Mairi Rennie (MR) and Paddy Walker (PW). Clerk: Debbie Harknett Also in attendance: District/County Councillor Kate O’Kelly (KOK) and Chris Paterson from SDNPA. There were no members of the public in attendance. Meeting started 7.30pm

Chairman: Steve Williamson Steve Williamson Vice-Chairman: Elizabeth Brown Elizabeth Brown Clerk: Debbie Harknett Debbie Harknett steve@thestepsrake.co.uk rakehanger3@gmail.com clerk@rogateparishcouncil.gov.uk www.rogateparishcouncil.gov.uk
Chairman: Steve Williamson	Vice-Chairman: Elizabeth Brown	Clerk: Debbie Harknett
steve@thestepsrake.co.uk	rakehanger3@gmail.com	clerk@rogateparishcouncil.gov.uk
www.rogateparishcouncil.gov.uk

- 1. Recording of the meeting – it was noted that the meeting would not be recorded.
- 2. Representations from the Public – none.
- 3. Apologies for absence were received and accepted from: Elena McCloskey (EM) and Nic Lobbenberg (NL). The Chairman noted that Elena had just had an accident when coming into the room and AA had gone to help her.
- 4. Declarations of interest – MH/RHR expressed an interest in Rogate School.
- 5. 5. Minutes of last meeting: the minutes of the meeting held on December 2018 were accepted by the Council as a true record and signed by the Chairman.
- 6. Report from SDNPA Chris Paterson
- a) Chris explained there are changes to the neighbourhood plan submission process that now require all plans to have a Habitat Regulations Assessment (HRA) if the suggested development sites are within 5km of delegated European strategic habitats – these include the SSSI’s at the Hangers and the Wealden Heath site so affect our plan. The assessment has to show that the proposed sites do not break any EU obligations.
- b) The government amended the legislation on 28/12/2018 and under these new rules our plan would fail to be accepted.
- c) The SDNPA could arrange for a qualified ecologist to do the Habitat Regulations Assessment which would take about 3 weeks. Undertaking an HRA also triggers the need for a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).
- d) Other parishes have submitted an assessment without a SEA and they were not accepted so we may have complete both assessments. However, if an environmental assessment is to be included it should have been included with the pre-submission documents under current legislation even though it wasn’t a requirement at the time of our pre-submission consultation; to not go back to pre-submission stage at this stage would be a risk to consider.
- e) There was much discussion about the changes and regulations, expressing frustration that our plan will require further work before final submission.
- f) Chris explained that while we could apply for funding for the SEA it is likely to prolong the process as other parishes will be doing the same thing and suitable consultants to carry out the work will get booked up. If we funded the survey (about £2,500) without funding help from Locality the process would probably be quicker as we would be further up the queue. SW reminded the meeting that we do have funds remaining in our NP budget and Chris hoped the SDNP would be able to match fund the cost.
- g) Chris explained he is very happy to help with the process and felt the SDNP would be happy to take the riskier option of not going back to pre-submission.
- h) After much discussion SW’s proposal of resolution ‘to carry out a Strategic Environmental Assessment on the submitted version Rogate and Rake NP and to carry out a Habitat Regulations Assessment’ was seconded by EB and unanimously approved. SW’s further proposal of resolution ‘to employ the consultant directly (not through Locality funding) to do the SEA after advice from SDNP’ was seconded by EB and unanimously approved.
- i) Chris asked about the Nyewood boundary change which the Clerk noted comes into effect in April. He will make any necessary amendments to the NP.

Rogate 4 Rogate 4 Parish Council Full Council Minutes – 14 January 2019 Page of